helmut wrote: - XnView is not a mature file manager and should not become one. (Even if file and media management is very much related).

- Dual pane means much less space for preview and thumbnails. This would mean that file management gets more important than image viewing and browsing. But XnView should remain an image viewer and browser, not a file manager.

- There's still a lot of potential to improve the current handling to make file management easier with single pane

..... Rather than putting effort into dual pane handling, I'd like to see ... and other things improved.

to be honest i really dont want a bloated program. and this is on edge.
i stopped using acdsee when it got to big with a lot of useless features for an image viewer.

and xnview is an IMAGE-viewer! please dont bloat it with things like dualpane/ or like these suggestions i found ->

i have my FILES-manager for files that are no pictures and i will not use xnview for checking my other media out.
there is for everything a special program/manager and that is good this way!
mediamonkey for mp3, vlc/vdub for video, xnview for pix, TC for FILEoperations!

sorry maybe a little offtopic, but thats how i feel about this megalomanism in nowadays progs. i dont now why many people think, when there are many wishes a program can solve for many different needs it would be used by a wider clientel. i think this is contraproductive.

herr_k. wrote:
sorry maybe a little offtopic, but thats how i feel about this megalomanism in nowadays progs. i dont now why many people think, when there are many wishes a program can solve for many different needs it would be used by a wider clientel. i think this is contraproductive.

please dont make the same error

XnView in on the fine way to become another bloated pos- lots of additions of doubtful usefulness while basic functions still left unoptimized, buggy and underdeveloped.
XnView is king of "almost done right, complete and bugfree" features.

herr_k. wrote:
sorry maybe a little offtopic, but thats how i feel about this megalomanism in nowadays progs. i dont now why many people think, when there are many wishes a program can solve for many different needs it would be used by a wider clientel. i think this is contraproductive.

please dont make the same error

XnView in on the fine way to become another bloated pos- lots of additions of doubtful usefulness while basic functions still left unoptimized, buggy and underdeveloped.
XnView is king of "almost done right, complete and bugfree" features.

Which feature are buggy or underdeveloped?? Your post is not very usefull for me...

herr_k. wrote:to be honest i really dont want a bloated program. and this is on edge.
i stopped using acdsee when it got to big with a lot of useless features for an image viewer.

and xnview is an IMAGE-viewer! please dont bloat it with things like dualpane/ or like these suggestions i found ->

I disagree, if you manage non image files in dual pane file manager and you like it, why not do it the same for image files - as option! All users need to manage images, often 2 instances of xnview must be opened and dual pane would be good alternative, even better and faster for some users.

herr_k. wrote:...please dont bloat it with things like dualpane/ or like these suggestions i found ->

Some of this feature are also in much smaller viewers, like irf**view - is irf**view bloatware?
About "MP3/video information" - it is also in deluxe version and it's just basic information, current cameras, cell phones are multimedial - they can create/"play" not just images, but also video and audio files and it could be useful to see e.g. video resolution... And XnView is (from homepage):

"an efficient multimedia viewer, browser and converter."

And - options like "Web page template" should not affect performance, since they should be inactive when viewing images, converting...

What does "bloat" mean, anyway? Too many features? Or too many "unused" features? Most programs have features I never use. Are those programs "bloated" because I don't use all of the features?

My definition of bloat is the addition of useful features to a program in such a way that the additional features tend to get in the way of the basic use of the program.

Proper interface design can take care of that issue. If a program seems bloated to a user, then the user interface must be poorly designed.

I always want more features in every program, if properly integrated. A dual-pane filer feature in XNView is something I would use every single day, over and over and over again! If there was a simple toggle to turn-off the extra pane for the users who don't want it, or if the extra pane was off by default, how could such functionality ever qualify as bloat?